Pain! He awoke to darkness and indescribable, all-encompassing, pain. When his vision returned he was greeted by whirling patterns of light and discordant imagery. His ears betrayed him by playing a dissonant chorus of riotous notes that he could barely decipher.

Even in his current state it was obvious that something had gone terribly wrong. Scott Hunter, freelance beta-tester, moaned aloud then struggled to sit up.

He looked down at his hands and saw that they were red, raw. In time he began to put words and feelings into place. His body felt as if it were both frozen and on burning at the same time. It was as though someone had put him into a microwave and hit the popcorn button.

He struggled against the weakness and pain for a time, and as a reward for his efforts he was finally able to speak the words, “What the hell?”

His voice came out as a hoarse croak. It was a damaged sound that greatly reminded him of his equally mistreated body. Scott closed his eyes and relaxed back onto the ground. He did not have the strength to rise. Darkness claimed him once more.

Time passed and the sun wheeled by overhead. The moons rose and set. It was midday on the following day before he awoke again. This time his injuries were far less severe. He had survived the cold, lonely, night and the rest period had restored some of his strength.

He looked around bleary eyed then gazed down at his hands. They were no longer red and raw. Instead he was now covered in a myriad number of hideous bruises. Every part of his body protested when he forced his way to his feet.

“What happened to me?” He leaned heavily against a nearby tree and tried to catch his breath. Even breathing was a terrific agony.

Where was he? He did not know. His memories were jumbled and scattered at the same time, a technical impossibility but who was he to judge?

Tears poured freely as he struggled to move forward. The overwhelming sense of pain was too much and he fell to the ground. More bruises would be added to the collection.

He reached out and clutched at a clump of grass. The stinging pain of moving his arm allowed him to gather his thoughts and focus his mind. He used the new pain to fight off the effects of his original pain. It was all he had to work with.

Breathing was hard. His body felt heavy, useless. His chest could barely push against the ground. It did not matter. What mattered was determining what had happened. Scott needed to understand what was happening and why he was in this situation.

He squeezed the clump of grass, felt the mild stinging pain, and tried to remember. It took a while, far longer than he would have liked, but memories did begin to surface. The game world, he had tried to return to Alterra. The time limit of twenty-four hours had ended and he’d readily attempted the quantum transfer protocol that would allow him to return there.

Whatever had happened afterward had left a blank spot, a hole in his memories. His sole recollection from that space of time was nothing more than a kaleidoscopic maelstrom of darkness and pain.

“Did I even make it there?” He struggled to look around but he was still too weak to move properly. He had used up all of his strength trying to stand earlier.

His vision began to fade and he knew that he would lose consciousness again soon. The last thing that he saw before the darkness claimed him once more was the clump of grass in his hand.

Scott lay on the ground completely vulnerable and exposed to the vagaries of that foreign world. Whether it was due to sheer luck or divine providence, nothing molested him in his time of need. Though all around him the forest was filled with terrible creatures and inhuman monstrosities, he slept without being disturbed.

He awoke once more after several hours had passed. Night had fallen and the moons had risen.

The blinding pain had subsided to a dull-ache. It was a sure sign that he had made it to the game world. Wounds healed rapidly and most moderate injuries would fade after one good night’s rest. While he could not claim that he’d had a good night’s rest, he had at least slept for a while.

Scott sat up slowly then dragged his exhausted body to the tree that he had leaned against earlier. He managed to crawl up the trunk just enough to get the leverage that he needed to roll over.

Now that he was sitting up properly he could breathe with greater ease. Softly, he whispered, “Fuck.”

There were no words for the kind of pain that he had experienced earlier. Even now his body ached all over. Scott was afraid to close his eyes again. He had a strong feeling that the next time he closed his eyes he would not wake up.

Instead of giving in to his body’s demands for rest, he looked up at the night sky. He was sitting in a forest clearing at the moment. The sky was open to him, and beautiful.

While he sat there sounds and gentle lights began to make themselves known to him. He had been in too much pain to pay attention earlier, but he could hear a subtle noise in the background that sounded like a soft lyrical melody.

He listened to the background music, the night-time symphony of the forest, while watching the dancing lights. “So, even here there are fireflies?”

The gentle dance of the insects put him a little more at ease. Despite his exhaustion, and the nagging ache in his body, he could feel at peace for the moment.

The moons of Alterra caught his attention next. The largest of the three moons looked like it took up half of the night sky, though that was obviously a trick of the light. “Bright blue, it looks like Earth.”

He raised his hand and reached for that massive blue orb. How could it be so close that it was this large in the sky? Wouldn’t the gravitational force do terrible things to this world? It was just another oddity of this strange land and its game-related laws of physics.

Scott sighed softly then dropped his hand. He should just try to head back to Earth. Maybe if he transferred home he could get answers from the corporation.

“Transfer protocol window.” Scott spoke the words loudly, clearly, but nothing happened. He stared at the empty air.

He called out for the protocol window once more and it still did not appear. Panic began to creep along his spine. Slowly it wormed its way into his chest and his heart began to beat faster. The transfer window was not responding!

A terrible suspicion overtook his sense. He began calling out for the menu screen, his inventory screen, anything that he could think of that might work. Nothing worked. He was completely cut-off.

During the tutorial he had been able to use those functions with impunity. Now he had no access. He could not even return home!

Normally he would attempt to think of some way to rectify his situation. However, the combination of pain and bewilderment caused him to do something he would not typically allow himself to do.

In the darkness he breathed heavily for a moment. Then, slowly, he drew his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. His body began to shake and tears streamed from his eyes. Quiet sobs echoed softly through the night-time woodland.

Reality had set in. He was lost, alone, and injured on an alien world. There was little that he could do till morning despite the gnawing hunger and burning thirst that he felt. He did not know how long he had been unconscious but he needed food and water desperately. There was nothing that he could do but wait for the morning to come, and hope that the dawn would bring new possibilities.